Class Notes | 2010s

Melissa Leung wined and dined with Son Tran ’95, Taran Carr, and Sarah Mi before watching Hamilton on its opening night in D.C. 

Ceci Cereijido-Bloche is in rehearsals for a show called The Hunt, going up at HB Studio in July. It’s a series of five one-acts, each with a different take on the idea of a sci-fi world with different gender dynamics (think Handmaiden’s Tale).

Matt Chilton just finished a run of eight performances of an original production of An Iliad as The Muse, a role bridging improvisation, composition, and acting, at D.C.’s Atlas Performing Arts Center. He is working on sound for Specially Processed American Me, a multimedia play and workshop series focused on Spam in Korean and Korean-American food, culture, and memory, while playing electric sax in a femme-domme math rock ensemble, Wasabi Fox, and working in nonprofit admin.

Eki Ramadhan has been working for the Southeast Asia office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab for almost two years. He had a chance to work with Jenna Juwono ’09, who is now pursuing a graduate degree in the Netherlands. He deferred his admission to a grad school in the States to 2019 and is working as a senior research associate and eager to welcome recently-graduated Aqila Putri ’18 to the J-PAL team at the end of June .

Mads O’Brien is wrapping up her job(s) at Stanford University, where she works part-time as library GIS support (basically being a QAC tutor all over again) and part-time at the front desk of the Rumsey Map Center for rare and antique maps. She gets to geek out over really awesome cartography everyday—ask her about it! This fall, Mads is heading back to Connecticut to pursue a master’s of environmental science at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where one of her personal goals is to learn how to fly drones for aerial photography. Mads is excited to reconnect with her people on the East Coast.

Since graduation, Sean Mihaljevich has been working as a research analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York but will soon be returning to his home state of California to pursue a JD at Stanford Law School. He comments, “It is unfortunate that I have to leave many of the close friends I made at Wesleyan behind, but I am excited for what the future holds!”

Ellen Paik placed second with her team in the Global Finals of the Goldman Sachs Analyst Impact Fund, securing a grant for a nonprofit called New Story, an organization that aims to incorporate 3D printing technology to alleviate global homelessness. The grant will go towards constructing the first ever 3D-printed community, to be built in El Salvador by 2019. Check out the amazing work of New Story on their website!

In August, Madeline James will be leaving D.C. and moving down to North Carolina to start a PhD program in history at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Aaron Morgan works in D.C. for Fund II-UNCF STEM Scholars Program, a $48 million Initiative that supports African-American students pursuing careers in STEM and technology.

Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu

Sam Shillet says that Sam Beck lives in Brooklyn and is generally dissatisfied with the F train, as he must take it every day on his dull and monotonous way to his mundane writing job. Sam Beck also wants everyone to know that he has a boring job in New York and is still single.

This past year Yael Horowitz has been dealing with the standard and classic issues of existential dread, despising capitalism while being a full-time participant in it, and watching the world fall apart in front of her over and over again.

Alyssa Domino is working as a paralegal for a law firm in D.C. called Norton Rose Fulbright. Her boss is a 71-year-old Wes alumnus with so much Wes pride that it sometimes feels like she is still on campus. The firm is an international corporate law firm, and Alyssa is most involved in two practice groups: mergers and acquisitions and “project finance” or energy law. There has been a learning curve—it was not until about a month into this job that she grasped that not all lawyers are litigators—but so far, it’s been so good!

Fred Ayres is a pharmacology lab technician at the University of Michigan Medical School and a therapist on a public health intervention in Flint to reduce adolescent substance use. This fall he begins work as a City Year service member in Detroit and providing academic and social support to struggling teens. He’s excited to be involved in efforts to revitalize the D! He’ll spend the summer applying to medical schools and training for his eighth marathon.

Alexandra “Zandy” Stovicek works at a reproductive health nonprofit and volunteers as a full spectrum doula in NYC. This fall she will attend Yale School of Nursing’s MSN program to become a nurse-midwife and women’s health nurse practitioner. In denial that she is about to learn a ton of science, she spent three weeks this summer on a cross-country road trip and self-drive safari around South Africa.

Harry Rafferty is a Lyft driver in Ann Arbor, Mich., chasing his dream of playing professional basketball. He volunteers for many organizations at the University of Michigan. All Wes family members have a place to stay in Michigan if they need one.

Nick Miceli spent seven months living in Adelaide, Australia, working as a bartender and playing professional baseball over the fall and winter, and is now in his living in Bremen, Germany, playing professional baseball in the Bundesliga.

Catherine “Cassie” Willson’s musical, If Sand Were Stone, opened off Broadway this summer in the New York Musical Festival. Music was done by Cassie, book and lyrics by Carly Feinman ’16, and choreography by Nora Thompson ’15.

Nick Daley is living in NYC. After recovering from a knee surgery in his senior year, he has begun his career as a dancer in New York in collaboration with choreographer Lane Gifford, the excellent Eury German ’16, and many others, while apprenticing under the tutelage of renowned teacher, Max Stone. He is also a tutor to help pay the bills, so he is putting that Wesleyan liberal arts degree to work. Find him on the stage, in the studio, or at the library brushing up on some good old Latin grammar.

Ali Felman is spending the summer driving through flyover country (her homeland) to start at Synergy School in San Francisco. She’s teaching middle school English so that she can stay hip on all the style trends while staying true to mechanics.

Sam Stern, in New Hampshire, is working as a software engineer in test. He spends his weekends volunteering and exploring the local trails. He discovered that his city plays host to the self-proclaimed largest taco tour in the country every year, and he’s since seen the proof. Anyone in or around Boston is welcome to visit.

In July, up your aesthetic toured the Northeast, Philadelphia, and D.C. It was the combined capstone of Jess Cummings, Constance Des Marais, Nola Werlinich, and Cheyanne Williams and they took it on the road this summer with collaborators, Katherine Paterson ’18 and Chloe Briskin ’18. up your aestheticis a short, powerful retelling the Greek stories of the Amazon warriors told in an intimate setting through ritual, song, and dominoes.

Keyonne Session | ksession@wesleyan.edu

Congratulations, Class of 2018! The past four years flew by and we are excited to check in soon to see what amazing things our classmates are up to.

Najwa Anasse | nanasse@wesleyan.edu
Garett Larivee | glarivee@wesleyan.edu

Sam Shillet was hired by Ditto PR in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in December as an assistant account executive. He still lives in Queens, for now. Sam Beck says that Sam Shillet’s favorite snack is the new, limited edition peppermint Twinkie.

Eric Jasinski is working for an Israeli medical cannabis company called Tikun Olam. In Israel they serve 30 percent of the population and do tons of research.

Lizzie Shackney is living in Birmingham, Ala., serving as an AmeriCorps member with Impact America. She’ll be running a VITA tax site in Troy, Ala. She never imagined that she’d be so excited about free tax preparation, but here she is. Alabama has yet to shake her vegetarianism, but has great food all around, so she’s happy. She says, “Y’all are always welcome to come visit!”

Ali Jamali has barely had a break since graduation. He immediately moved to NYC and started working. Since then, he has worked with various theater companies such as Manhattan Theater Club, Second Stage Theater, Network Theater Company, and Musical Theater Factory, where he is a producing resident. He’s also been directing multiple projects, from site-specific pieces at the 34th Street-Hudson Yards subway station, Governors Island, Lincoln Center Plaza, and Riverside Park, to shows at Midtown International Theatre Festival and The Tank. If you are a fan of theater and want free tickets to shows in New York, he’s one message away!

Alexandra Bacchus, living in Nashville, works for an ethical shoes and accessories brand, which is related to what she wrote her senior thesis on.She’s on the brand partnerships team and found the job with the help of Venture for America, a fellowship that helps college graduates go to work for startups in non-traditional startup cities.

Fun fact: She’s already had eight—and soon to be 11—Wesleyan visitors come through Nashville to say hey so far…so everyone please go visit!

Julia Tyminski moved to Philly, where she is working at a wine bar while working on her music. She is going to Nashville at the end of March to record an EP. She’s not sure when this will be released, but hopefully by the end of the spring!

Avva Saniee is a post-baccalaureate IRTA fellow at the National Institutes of Health within NIAID, the Allergy and Infectious Diseases division. She works in an immunogenetics lab and loves living in D.C.—“there’s so much to do and so much to explore” and thinks it’s nice to have a Wesleyan community to spend time with.

Han How is based in San Francisco working in real estate private equity while biking and hiking on weekends. His Outhouse days sparked his love for the outdoors.

Julia Morrison is an English language and physical education teacher in a small town just outside Madrid. She’s enjoying the tapas and the siestas, and she’s also pleased to finally fulfill her college superlative of “most likely to earn a living from athletics.” She sends love to all her coaches and teammates who helped her make it here, especially those who showed up for Thursday night community building.

Isabel Fine and Penny Snyder ’16 co-habit a small, but bohemian-chic, top story two-bedroom, one-bath duplex in a mid-sized Texas city. They both drive to work, but talk about a day when they will take public transit, or bike! From two ends of one city, from two modern workplaces, they send emails, process documents, schedule happenings, go to meetings, drink coffee, and work for the weekend. They’re on the cusp of becoming involved in a number of hobbies including: women’s carpentry, biking, half-marathon-ing, getting involved in local politics, and reading the New Yorker. Thus far, all they’ve done is watch TV.

Keyonne Session | ksession@wesleyan.edu 

Miranda Haymon is an artist-in-residence at the Roundabout Theatre Company in NYC, serving as assistant director for two off-Broadway shows and one Broadway show, as well as developing her works-in-progress through Roundabout. She’s always looking for audience members so if you’re curious to see what she’s up to, hit her up!

Lizzie Paquette is finishing up the dual-degree engineering program at Columbia and graduating with a B.S. in computer engineering. Last summer she worked as a software engineer at Facebook, but come this fall, will be starting a job as a software engineer at a Y Combinator startup called Pagedraw in San Francisco.

Michael King and Abby Gruppuso are in Huatulco, Mexico, to work on a language learning startup. They have been eating a lot of tacos. They are also looking to collaborate with a product designer, so if anyone has experience, reach out!

Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu

Ariel Lesnick received her master’s in educational leadership and policy studies from Boston University. She is looking forward to not having schoolwork and spending time with her newly-adopted beagle.

Lina Mamut combined her loves of technology and food with her latest startup, Cheffer. Cheffer is an online kitchen gadget rental service, and combines customized top chef-developed recipes with hand-picked appliances. Lina has a crowdfunding campaign running to bring Cheffer to everyone. More info at cheffer.io.

Christopher Tugman is going to London to open the UK office of the company he works for, Hubdoc. If any Wesleyan grads are around, he’d love to connect.

Chazelle Rhoden has been creating I’Luja Collective, a community organization that facilitates community organizing by using art and the principles of liberatory education, direct democracy, and co-op economics.

Andrew Hove, Julia Chanin, and Zia Grossman-Vendrillo wrote in to say hi.

Katherine Lu is back in Orange County, Calif., learning about medical devices and manufacturing at Applied Medical. When she is not in a bunny suit—and it is definitely as cute as it sounds—she is learning how to safely change lanes and heed traffic signals. She goes up to San Francisco once a month to see familiar faces.

Rebecca Sokol, in 4 4law school at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is pursuing environmental law, public lands, and American Indian law. She’ll be interning in Portland, Ore., this summer and would love to connect with Wes folks there.

Ismael Coleman’s family moved to the UAE in 2017. He spent the beginning of the year in Dubai, learning about the culture. Last year he started a technology and marketing company VIBESPLUS that builds apps and digital marketing campaigns (vibes.plus). This year he launched Easy Orders NYC that provides custom ordering apps for restaurant and retail businesses (easyorders.nyc). He would love to connect with other entrepreneurs and travel enthusiasts.

Hannah Yasin took two years off to gain meaningful clinical and life experiences and to prepare for the MCAT. She first worked as a medical scribe at Mercy Hospital’s Emergency Department, then as a waitress at Texas Roadhouse, and finally as a patient care assistant in the Cardiology Unit of Sparks Hospital. She entered medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is very hopeful and excited for what the future holds!

Cherkira Lashley is a 12th-grade English teacher at Advanced Math and Science III. She’s an official Jesus freak, and still has enough juice in her knees to school her students in basketball. And, Tim Gallivan is DJing and teaching Math, too!

In between working at MTV in NYC and working on a virtual reality docu-series called We The People with Glenn Cantave ’16 and Rebecca Wyzan, Danielle Pruitt has put her film and environmental studies degrees (lol) to work by starting an e-commerce company called Buy The Way. Buy The Way, LLC has its very own online Amazon store featuring offbeat yet extremely useful products with a socially-driven mission. A percentage of their profits will go to a rotating portfolio of nonprofit organizations. She writes, “If your mug doesn’t collapse, you need a new mug—trust #ad. Check us out on Instagram @ohbuytheway!”

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu

The class of 2014 still continues to demonstrate talent. Take a look at some of the diverse and interesting things the members of the class are doing:

Ella Dawson has had two essays about sexuality and relationships published on ELLE.com, both as part of the larger conversation about #MeToo and consent.

Josh Krugman continues to perform nationally and internationally with Bread and Puppet Theater. On Josh’s recent travels with the company he has met Susan Katz ’88 in St. Petersburg, Zoë Toulouse ’16 in Paris, Sophie Becker ’16 in New York, Dan Schniedewind ’12 in Santa Cruz, Eppchez in Philadelphia, and Evan Weber in D.C. Contact Josh to bring the company to your city or school.

Andrew Cohen co-founded Impact24 PR to promote behind-the-camera talent. In his free time, he is searching for the best taco truck in LA.

Gigi Breland writes: “I purchased my first home in New Jersey and became engaged to my boyfriend in January. I am working in the very difficult field of social work and looking to branch out into a more creative field.”

Miche Aaron reports: “I just got accepted into Johns Hopkins University Earth and Planetary Sciences PhD program. I also started a position at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as a researcher studying ways to transform acquired CRISM data sets into scientifically compelling derived data products by geometric data processing, radiative transfer, graph theory, numerical optimization, GIS, controlled and uncontrolled image mosaicking, and spectral/mineralogical analysis.

“My research I did while at NASA Langley Research Center was accepted for submission to be presented at the Planetary Science Informatics and Data Analytics international conference in St. Louis. I will present this research in April.”

On Jan. 8, Patrick Ortiz was sworn in as a career firefighter in his home town of Lakewood, N.J. He had previously been a volunteer there for over three years.

Nathaniel Elmer is living in Helsinki, Finland, designing and building a 70-seat theater using only Finnish wood construction techniques. He spends his free time in the sauna with a bottle of vodka.

Amy Lindland was promoted to director of sales at Indeed.com (“One of the youngest directors ever”). If anyone is interested in working there, reach out to her at alindland@indeed.com.

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

And just like that, we’ve entered into a new year. The days are long, but the years are short. Even in these short years, the class of 2012 is still foraging new adventures.

Andrew Dominguez is back in his hometown of Manila, Philippines. He plans to found a Wesleyan and NESCAC club in Manila. He hopes to bring the fun tradition of GOLD parties, NESCAC mixers, and Summer Send-offs to Manila (complete with free giveaways of buttons and flags and stickers, and pleas for donations to the alma mater). If anyone would like to help Andrew found the club, please reach out.

Just an ocean away from Andrew, Sarah Schorr is in graduate school at Cal State Los Angles. Upon graduation, Sarah will head off to D.C. to join her boyfriend.

Abaye Steinmetz-Silber is a work team leader at Gould Farm in the Berkshires.

Peter Frank and William Schragis live in Brooklyn. William is the national director for Barrell Bourbon and Peter is a co-founder of dev.to, an online community for programmers. John Snyder works at Vimeo in data analytics, and occasionally teaches at General Assembly. He also drums in a few Wes-originated music groups. Haley Baron received her master’s in food studies from NYU, focusing on sustainable food systems. Haley is joining the pineapple NY team, a collaborative community for women who care about food. John and Haley will be married in 2019.

Another Wesleyan couple who deserve a celebratory toast are Hannah Berkman and Luke Erickson. Hannah and Luke were married on Nov. 11 in Alexandria, Va. They were joined at the celebration by Casey Reed, Becky Baskin, Tom Oddo, Richard Leuchter, Matt Stinson, Sky Stallbaumer, Benjie Messinger-Barnes ’09, Jamie Sandra Messinger ’11, Julia Alschuler ’11, Lauren Goldstein ’11, Nick Scotto ’13, Alissa Santucci ’13, Justin Metz ’13, Ryan Sblendorio ’15, and Jane ’77 and Tim Klemmer ’77.

As for me, I will be ringing my own wedding bells with Derek Sellhausen (Skidmore ’12) next spring. Wishing the entire class of 2012 continued health and happiness.

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu

Hi, Class of 2011. Lots of updates to report!

Allie Diamond writes “I’m engaged and in my third year of my PhD in clinical psychology at Berkeley, studying future thinking in anxiety and depressive disorders using person-specific methodologies. And I’m loving living in the Bay Area!”

From Ilaria (Wolfe) O’Keefe: “We have three kids—6, 4, and 6 months—and I am in the middle of the first year of homeschooling with the oldest. I work as a doula and do singing projects on the side. This year will be a big one for us, as my husband finishes grad school and we figure out where to go next!”

After traveling in Greenland, Jared Gimbel presented at the 2017 Polyglot Conference in Reykjavik on using video games to learn languages. He has a YouTube channel with educational and comedic content. Kaverini: Nuuk Adventures, his first video game, is still in development, in addition to a smaller side project about Nauru.

Qianqian Lin writes, “Eli Fox-Epstein and I got married in 2016. Paul Linton officiated, and a few other Wes alumni from 2011 attended. We also closed on our first condo this past August and have been doing renovations galore! To help pay the mortgage, Robert Boutelle lives with us! In career news, I graduated from the MBA program at UCLA, where I was classmates again with Anjana Rimal.”

Sally Edmonds writes, “This year was a busy one for me. I married Sam Maritim ’10 and gave birth to our daughter Athena Cheboss Maritim in October. We are now living in New Haven, Conn.”

And from Todd Keats, “Adam Kaiser ’13 and I played for the New York St. Nicks Hockey Club against Tom Hartnett ’14 of the Jackson Hole Moose in Jackson, Wy. The St. Nick’s beat the Moose 4-3 and 6-3 on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in front of sellout crowds of 1,500. Brad Improta ’14 was in attendance, but was recovering from an injury. We enjoyed skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and the nightlife at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.”

Thanks for your contributions. It’s always nice to see what everyone is up to.

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu

Greetings, Class of 2010! I hope you enjoy the following updates from our classmates around the world:

Carla Becerra is getting married in September and moving to New Haven.

Abby Sedney is “happily living in Fraser, Colo., as a failed ski bum with my Springer Spaniel, Luna Tuna.” Abby was promoted to senior rental manager at Winter Park Resort, a part of the new Alterra Mountain Company.

Eli Bronner contributes the following on Michael Gittes, “who is going to be showing at the National Portrait Gallery in London this year, as part of the Michael Jackson show, On the Wall. Eli adds, “It’s a big deal to be included in the show, so it’s telling of how well Michael’s art career is going.” He partnered with Michael on several endeavors throughout the art world and said On the Wall was especially fun.

Sandie Weisberger “just relocated (with her fiancé and dog, Boone) to Copenhagen, Denmark, to start a job working as in-house counsel at Novo Nordisk.”

Jonna Humphries is now at Moog Music Inc., leading marketing for their annual music and technology festival, Moogfest. “We are behind the world’s most iconic synthesizers used by artists from Stevie Wonder to Hans Zimmer to Kanye West to Suzanne Ciani to Frank Ocean.” Jonna leads a dinner series called Women to Watch, sponsored by Google, that brings together women from various industries.

Christopher Coleman and Jessica Levin ’11 were married on Oct. 14 at the Woolverton Inn in Stockton, N.J. Their wedding party included Erik Holum, Nelson Norsworthy, Diego Bleifuss Prados, Haleigh Smith ’11, Lily Fesler ’11, Maryann Platt ’11, and Avinash Sridhar, who officiated the ceremony, along with a large contingent of Wes alumni who attended the wedding. Chris and Jess moved from LA to Chicago and are excited to start their next chapter!

Right after graduating from her master’s program at the Graduate Institute of Geneva, Melina Natalie Aguilar, returned to her hometown, Ponce, Puerto Rico, to assist in post-Hurricane Maria relief efforts. She co-founded a local nonprofit called Conexion Caribe to provide relief to those devastated by the natural disaster in the southern part of Puerto Rico. Melina has founded an enterprise to develop sustainable tourism experiences and exportation of locally made products from the south of Puerto Rico called Isla Caribe. More info can be found at islacaribe.co.

Jessie Schiewe “is launching an online publication dedicated to alternative journalism this spring. Called OK Whatever (okwhatever.org), the site focuses on weird and strange news events and stories, with an insouciant, silly bent. Be it paranormal, fantastical, controversial, or just downright bizarre, OK Whatever aims to cover it. We are accepting art and writing submissions. Email jessie@okwhatever.org.”

Lucas Hidalgo is engaged to Palmer Thornton and is a site coordinator of the 21st Century Community Learning Center Programs and youth advocate at the High School for Health Careers and Sciences in NYC.

Alice Maggio is back in school at Tufts University, in the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program. She’s living in Medford, so let her know if you’re in the area and you want to go contra dancing, swing dancing, or Sacred Harp singing.

Chelsea Sprayregen is the CEO and co-founder of an early stage social enterprise, Pie for Providers (formerly known as Provide). They are using technology to help child care providers build stronger businesses. She launched the company while an MBA candidate at Chicago Booth, where she just graduated.

Gavin Brennan contributes a brief reminder that “the Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions!” Gavin may try to slide this note into each column through January 2019.

Finally, nine years after meeting on the lawn of 105 Cross, Jess Brownfeld and Eric Spierer tied the knot in November. Fellow Cardinals in attendance include Matt Nestler, Dan Bloom, Sam Decock, Hilary Burke Chan, AJ Chan ’11, Elana Metsch-Ampel ’12, Gianna Palmer, Cara Weinberger, and Vin Broderick ’75.

That’s all for this issue! As always, feel free to pass along your life updates anytime.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu